I love making these free marketing strategies… You get even more when you work with me! And I’ll do this every month (except the website pages, because we’re not writing 5 pages a month unless you have a lot of services and locations).
Let’s get started:
Local Gym Websites: 5 Pages You Need
This is inspired by a local gym that seems to be doing fine, but that I struggled with when I visited the website…. The hours were missing? So the entire reason I’m signing up for a gym is so I can go run on a treadmill at 5am, and I don’t know if that’s possible there 😅 ok here’s what you can do:
Home Page: I say this about every business. We want more from your homepage than your address (we also want your hours 🫣) but we want to know your specialty. Make it easy to find links to your workout calendar, locations, and what makes YOU the best local gym. Trainers? Classes? Smoothie bar? Social events??
About Us: What makes you different, why people should consider joining? “family photos” etc. Make this more about your client than just yourself (not your entire life timelines, but the things that will be relevant to your potential members).
Locations & Schedules/ equipment list: You can link to a PDF calendar, tell them to check your Instagram, but we need to know what’s happening and when. Call this whatever you want, but if I’m going to a new gym, I want to see everything before I step inside. Planet Fitness has virtual tour, but I’d take a floor plan! I want to know how many showers you have. What kinds of lockers? EVERYTHING. Do I ask for too many details??
Our Trainers: I’m sure turnover is high in this industry, like every other, but if a member is signing up for a gym, they want to know you have trainers who can answer questions.
Join Now: This is where the pricing goes, shopping cart, etc.
Anything you think is missing?
Lead Magnets to Get Email Subscribers
How to get customers to sign up for your email list and join your gym? Give them something useful!
- PDF Download: How to structure your week for balanced workouts: why they need to alternate arms, legs, full body, cardio, when to rest, when to stretch, etc. This also demonstrates your expertise that goes a long way for gym members
- Free video challenges: ask people to sign up for a weekly/ daily/ something free workout challenge that they can only access through your email list. They can share about it online, and grow your reach that way too!
- Recipes for Weightloss/ Strengthbuilding/ Better workouts etc.
- Birthday rewards: free smoothie, free merch, free birthday month, free class WE LOVE FREE BIRTHDAY STUFF
Which one would you try first? I think the birthday reward is probably the easiest to implement ASAP.
4 Blog Posts for Your Local Fitness Center
Remember, the important part of blog posts is Search Engine Optimization… which means we want Google to find these and say “this is useful for people!” and show it to the right person. That means you’re probably targeting keywords about [ YOUR TOWN ] or service area. Those location posts are the best place to start.
These are outlines… which means you will probably add a paragraph of information below that is primarily helpful without being promotional. We generally add a promo at the very end (or if it makes sense in a paragraph). Here you go:
- Getting the best workout in [YOUR TOWN]
- Variety of classes
- Variety of equipment
- Mix in cardio
- Bring a friend/ make a friend
- What to look for in a local [YOUR TOWN] gym
you’ll probably want these to be characteristics of your own gym, but throw in some useful considerations even if you don’t have them.- Does it have the equipment you need
- Does it have interesting classes
- Does it have childcare
- Does it have social events
- How to find other gym-lovers in [YOUR LOCATION]
- Find a gym with group classes
- Bump into a new friend
- Ask if they want to grab a smoothie or coffee after the next class
- Tips for Using Gym Equipment at your local [YOUR LOCATION] gym
This could be a series, and easily repurposed to social media content
Which blog post will you write first? If you need help implementing your content strategy (or you want someone else to write the strategy…) let’s chat 🤓
Social Media Content for Local Gym Accounts
I feel like gyms and trainers do great on social media, so maybe you don’t need any inspiration, but if you think those things only work for the individual trainer sharing specific workouts, here are some other ideas that make your location the ideal place to join:
- Meet the trainers and their favorite exercise [I’m Derek and I like doing pushups!!; I’m Danielle and I love running! etc.]
- What’s your favorite class? [ask customers when they check in and record their answers
- quick clips of everything happening during a week [1sec of each class
- Imaginary meet-cutes throughout the gym: people love to imagine that they will meet their soulmate at the gym. Give people some ideas (while showing off the different areas of your facility and the variety of classes): other ideas include: how to meet the love of your life in Yoga, how to introduce yourself at the weights, pick up lines that might actually work
- Form tips: how to use the equipment properly throughout the gym: CTA would be the free video course lead magnet for your email list
- Smoothie recipes/ partnership with local health food shop: tell people what to order for their goals, give coupons to local shops
- Asking members what they’re training for! showing the different levels of goals at your gym (or not, if you are attracting a specific person)
- Tour of the gym: you can pin this to the top of your feed. Every new gym-goer wants to know what they’re getting themselves into, trust me.
- Reposting content from your members: ask them to share about the gym/ tag and collaborate so you can build community
- Inspirational Reels: there are about a million trending audios with fitness quotes, pick one and show a workout in your space.
- Describe your target market: If you love to lift / workout early / run / [whatever your specialty is]… try us out! include the introductory rate
- The number one reason your workouts aren’t working for you?
PLEASE DONT: just post a “Happy Memorial!” post. no one is here to see that! Unless you have something relevant to share (meet our veterans, all-american workout playlist, classes cancelled, etc.) that post will tank, and tell people nothing about your brand when someone checks out your feed
Don’t forget to include 📍 [YOUR LOCATION] on reels, so people know quickly if they are in your area, even if they find you through the explore tab.
With 3 posts over 4 weeks, here’s a full month of social media content to get you consistent.
Everything Else for Marketing Your Fitness Center
First of all, if you’re not doing social events at your gym, you’re missing out. Many people want to make friends or meet the love of their life at the gym, and how can they do that without a party. You may say, that’s what group classes are for. But are they? What if you all sign up for a local 5k together as a team? Or you have a mom’s group that coordinates with your childcare times? Order some food (doesn’t have to be “healthy”) and set up a party in the studio. Do this monthly.
Here are some more traditional ways to market your business:
- SEO Landing Pages: each type of workout + your location
- Google My Business: List promos and post photos!
- Facebook Ads: reels with a tour of your building
- PayPerClick Ads: make sure you show up when people search for gyms in your area
- Email Marketing: they signed up for your lead magnet, and now you need to stay consistent!
- Seasonal Sales: local outreach with social events at the gym
- Brochures
- Flyers
- Signs
- Mailers
- Referral Incentives
There are a million different ways to market your business, but they all need some writing.
And who wants to do all that writing??
Me 🙋🏻♀️So where should we start?
Looking for more free marketing strategies?
Here are a few other businesses I’ve covered:
Thanks for following along!